Pasteurized alternatives

My friend recently posed a question that I'd like to share here:

Hi darlin',

I am going to a baby shower this weekend and wanted to make this bread pudding
(I made it a few years ago and it is so good!). But- my very quick research on google tells me that Comte and Emmenthaler cheeses are unpasteurized. Now, while I don't think something bad will happen if my pregnant friend has a bit of unpasteurized cheese, I'd rather not make something she won't eat or force her to eat something she doesn't want! My question to you, my favorite cheese mongeress: Is there a pasteurized substitute for this type of cheese? (or will I find if I head to Whole Foods or somewhere with good cheese that pasteurized versions of these cheeses exist?) I suppose I could omit the cheese, too, but that's no fun, either!

xx
Jamie 

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Hi Jamie,

Thank you for your question!  I've been thinking about this common dilemma.  When you're looking to substitute one cheese for another, it's always a safe bet to stick to the region or style of cheese that you want to mimic.  Comté and Emmenthal are alpine cheeses made in France and Switzerland respectively.  While you're not ever going to get these cheeses in a pasteurized option due to the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (a cheese recipe protection), you may be able to find pasteurized alpine-style cheeses.  A Jarlsberg, found in most grocery stores, could take the place of Emmenthal, while Pleasant Ridge Reserve made by Uplands Cheese Company in Wisconsin could substitute the Comté.

Meanwhile, since we are in Massachusetts, I would recommend you look closer to home for your Swiss substitutes.  Robinson Farm in Hardwick (http://www.robinsonfarm.org/cheese.html) has a selection of alpine-style cheeses and I think you can't go wrong if you try their Prescott, Robinson Family Swiss, or Barndance.  Ray Robinson has managed to get his cheeses in many stores now, including Russo's in Watertown and a number of shops in Cambridge.  But if all else fails, I'd recommend going to a cheese shop with a good selection and asking the mongers behind the counter what they have that's pasteurized and alpine style.  They will find you a solution.  And always remember to ask for a taste to see if you like it!

I hope this helps,
Marie-Laure

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thank you! Feel free to put this on your blog, too! :)

Jamie

Cheese Rules: Québec

Yesterday we busted the myth that the U.S. does not allow the production of cheese from unpasteurized milk.  Today, we're going to take a look at the rules in Québec.  Why Québec?  Because (1) I'm trying to decide where to start my farm and the finalists are Vermont and Québec, and (2) Québec happens to be a special place for cheese, as we'll discover.

First let me say that the website for the Ministère de l'agriculture, pêcheries et alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ) is a pleasure to navigate.  While I spent several hours yesterday searching for the USDA regulations, it took me perhaps a half hour today to find the regulations in Québec.  As you can read in SECTION 11.7 Québec is similar to France in that:

Pasteurized or ultra-heat treated (UHT) milk is not obligatory for the following products:
1˚ all cheese that has a period of affinage at 2˚C (35.6˚F) or more for 60 days or more after the date of production;
2˚ any soft or semi-soft cheese with a ripening period that is less than that prescribed in paragraph 1, if prepared by the operator of a dairy plant that meets the standards for the preparation of raw milk cheese as described in SECTION 11.6.

The exact passage in French is as follows:

"11.7.4.  Malgré les articles 11.7.1 et 11.7.2, la pasteurisation ou le traitement à ultra haute température n'est pas obligatoire pour les produits laitiers servant à la préparation des produits suivants :

  1°    tout fromage dont la période d'affinage à une température de 2 °C ou plus est de 60 jours ou plus après la date du début de sa préparation ;

  2°    tout fromage à pâte molle ou à pâte demi-ferme dont la période d'affinage est inférieure à celle prévue au paragraphe 1, s'il est préparé par l'exploitant d'une usine laitière qui satisfait aux normes de préparation de fromage au lait cru prévues à la section 11.6.

D. 741-2008, a. 15."

Woohoo!  So this means that - as long as the standards outlined in Section 11.6 are met - a cheesemaker can make and sell a raw milk cheese even if it is aged less than 60 days!  I suspect that, like in France, the Section 11.6 regulations are stringent, but Québec just may be the cheesemaker's land of opportunity...

It is important to note that, while Québécois cheese specifications are pretty snazzy, cheese specifications for the rest of the Canadian provinces are similar to U.S. regulation.

The rules of the cheese

A recent conversation with the family led me to write the following post about the federal regulations governing cheese.  Now, I know this isn't the kind of topic that will make you fall out of your chair in excitement, but it's something that absolutely must be clarified.

Yesterday I was informed by my sister who was informed by a cheesemaker in Québec that in the United States of America, it is illegal to make cheese with unpasteurized (raw) milk.  This is FALSE!  Please, please know, readers, that it is completely legal to make, sell, buy and eat cheese that was produced with milk that was not heated to 161˚F (71.7˚C) for 15 to 20 seconds!*  The General Specifications for Dairy Plants Approved for USDA Inspection and Grading Service, effective August 28, 2002 states at the top of page 58 in black and white:

"§ 58.439 Cheese from unpasteurized milk.

              If the cheese is labeled as “heat treated,” “unpasteurized,” “raw milk,” or “for manufacturing” the milk may be raw or heated at temperatures below pasteurization. Cheese made from unpasteurized milk shall be cured for a period of 60 days at a temperature not less than 35˚F. If the milk is held more than 2 hours between time of receipt or heat treatment and setting, it shall be cooled to 45˚F. or lower until time of setting."

I should note that, when scouring the interwebs for official documentation, I encountered a more recent document entitled, Milk for Manufacturing Purposes and its Production and Processing effective July 21, 2011.  The listed requirements touch on those in the previous document, though there are changes here and there, namely on page 41:

"E 4.3.2 Cheese from unpasteurized milk. If the cheese is labeled as “heat treated”, “unpasteurized”, “raw milk”, or “for manufacturing”, the milk may be raw or heated at temperatures below pasteurization. If the milk is held more than 2 hours between time of receipt or heat treatment and setting, it shall be cooled to 45˚F. or lower until time of setting."

Notice that the more recent rule reprise eliminates the sentence, "Cheese made from unpasteurized milk shall be cured for a period of 60 days at a temperature not less than 35˚F."  Why is this?  If you know, please tell me.

While I am thrilled that my family is getting interested in cheese and scouting out locations for the farm, as you can probably tell, I am also distraught that intelligent people are receiving incorrect information from presumably knowledgeable sources.  So tune in next time for a recap of Canadian cheese rules and my aspirations to combine goat cheese with maple syrup.

* Pasteurization falls most commonly under the category of High Temperature/Short Time or HTST, where "milk is forced between metal plates or through pipes heated on the outside by hot water, and is heated to 71.7 °C (161 °F) for 15–20 seconds."  Thanks Wikipedia

When "cat hair" meets cheese

At MonS we receive a goat and cow milk cheese called Petit St. Hannois.  It usually comes nicely dried, a light yellow 2 x 2 inch cylinder-shaped morsel of goodness.  Recently, however, we received a batch that was larger and lighter in color because it was younger and contained more moisture.  It turns out the cheeses were brought to us after just three days in their cool drying room when we usually receive them after five or six days.

As usual, we put the Petits St. Hannois in our frigo.  Well wouldn't you know it, in a few days, our cheeses looked like balls of beige fluff!  In the frigo, the Petits St. Hannois quickly started growing mucor, or mucoromycotina, a mould that looks like cat hair (in French we'll often call this mould just that: poil de chat).  This particular strain of mucor sprouts rapidly into thin strands, making the cheese look fuzzy and beige-brown.

Mucor Source: http://fr.academic.ru/dic.nsf/frwiki/1197386

It's not that the cheeses would taste bad with the mucor, it's that they didn't look very appealing; patting down the mould just made the cheeses look dirty.  And while tasting a cheese can improve the chances of a customer purchasing an "ugly" cheese, at MonS we try to keep all our products in delicious and beautiful shape.  So our next move: put the cheeses in the haloir.

We decided to go for the haloir because if we could get the Petits St. Hannois to grow the delicate yeast, geotricum, we might be able to salvage the batch.  The haloir is ideal for geotricum because this yeast needs a dry and warm environment with a high level of acidity/low pH.  The haloir helps remove the excess moisture from the cheeses and increases acidity.

In the haloir, our sorry batch of Petits St. Hannois started rapidly growing geotricum, white and blue strains of penicillium (mould), as well as a number of other multi-colored moulds.  This was exacly what we had hoped for.  Geotricum is a hospitable environment for all the moulds floating around the caves - and apparently in the haloir!  We could tell the yeast was growing because it formed a very light beige "skin" over the cheese that would protect it from the mucor.  So instead of conserving a smooth, clean and young-looking cheese, we have started a new Petit St. Hannois affinage.  One that has geotricum as its protective base coat, followed by strains of penicillium that will gradually coat the entire cheese until it looks thinly cushioned, white and blue.  This yeast-mould combination is one that we use for most of the cheeses in the goat cheese Cave # 2.

Eating the rind

Here's our first installment of Got a cheese question?

Kristen from Geneva asks:  "I just ate the rind of a Persillé du Beaujolais and it tasted bad, when can I eat the rind of a cheese?"

Hi, Kristen!  If you look at the list of types of cheeses, you can usually eat the rinds (or lack) of the first four: fresh, natural, bloomy/white, and washed.  In all cases, however, the best way to know is to have a small bite and decide for yourself.  The rind should add to the dimensions of flavor rather than overpower the taste of the cheese paste.  This is a general rule of good cheesemaking and careful affinage.

The reason for the vague rind vs. no-rind rule is in the way a cheese ages.  Natural, bloomy, and washed rind cheeses are surface ripened.  The yeasts (like Geotricum), moulds, and cultures (like Brevibacterium linens or B. linens) change the texture of the cheese from the outside-in, giving it depth of character with time.  This rind is an essential part of the whole cheese tasting experience.

Meanwhile,  pressed cheeses are internally ripened thanks to anaerobic (no oxygen needed) enzymes breaking down the cheese proteins.  The rind still adds flavor to the paste of the cheese, but it's also there to keep the moisture in and any potentially harmful bacteria/moulds out.  This rind is usually hard, or man-made (wax, cloth), and possibly many months old.  But then again, some hardcore cheese connoisseurs may eat this rind too (minus wax, cloth) because, after all, it's still a part of the cheese.

For a well written explanation detailing whether to rind or not to rind, you might want to check out Zoe Brickley's post on Big Cheese Stories, the Murray's Cheese of New York blog.

 One cheese, many ages, natural rind